Bengal Muslims in Search of Social Identity 1905-47

During the first four decades of the twentieth century the Bengali Muslim quest for identity among middle class was the most descernible aspect of the social development of the community. The actual process started during the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and was shaped in the hands of the nascent middle class intelligentsia. For them it had became difficult to choose a right course of action amidst perplexing varieties of mutually contradictory ideas. The author attempts to explore the basic dialectics under which the Muslim mind was faced with crucial question of allegiance - whether to owe allegiance to a rich and well nourished indigenous Bengali culture or to develop a half-baked predilection towards a hybrid culture of a greater Islam. This confusion went unabated and the Muslim mind had been making a continuous and strenuous effort to integrate different shades of religio-social ideals into a whole that would make sense and that would show continuity with the past while preparing for the future. The ultimate result of the effort was the birth of Bangladesh.